New bill addresses prior unfavorable court ruling

A court fight over a proposed bikini bar in the Baymeadows area is leading Jacksonville’s City Council to rethink how it defines which night spots it regulates as it does bikini bars.

Legislation to redefine a “dancing entertainment establishment” — what the city would call bars where people could drink and watch dancing women wearing very little — was introduced to the council this week.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard struck down the label used to regulate those spots as “overbroad,” saying it could apply as easily to a slew of other businesses, potentially even some workout studios, and wasn’t enforceable.

That finding followed a challenge by Albanese Enterprises, a company that wanted to open a bikini bar at 8669 Baymeadows Road.

The company sued after being told it needed a zoning exception that the city Planning Commission denied in November, when about 60 people crowded into a meeting to speak against the exception.

The existing rules will stay in place for a while because of a stay on the judge’s order, Councilwoman Lori Boyer told members Tuesday.

The bill “is a measure to address an immediate issue raised by the District Court,” General Counsel Cindy Laquidara said by email, adding she has “full confidence that the amended language addresses the legal issue.”

Howard’s ruling “could have been read to negate our zoning on this issue” without some change to the city ordinances, she said.